1. Related Art
The present invention relates to an occupant protection apparatus in which a cover sheet is fed out of a peripheral edge of a window of a vehicle, when activated, so as to prevent an occupant from being ejected from the window of the vehicle when the vehicle rolls over (overturns).
2. Related Art
As a conventional occupant protection apparatus, there exists an occupant protection apparatus in which a cover sheet is folded to be accommodated in a peripheral edge of a window of a vehicle such that the cover sheet is fed out thereof so as to cover the window when a pulling unit is activated to operate (for example, refer to JP-A-2002-19572).
In this occupant protection apparatus, the pulling unit is provided with a pulling string which is connected to the cover sheet and a pulling device which pulls the pulling string. In addition, the pulling string extends downward from a fixed point on a front side of the window peripheral edge to be accommodated in a lower edge portion of the window peripheral edge, furthermore, rises along a rear side of the window peripheral edge to be wound round a free roller so as to reverse its pulling direction, and is connected to a pulling device provided below the window.
In this occupant protection apparatus, when the system is activated, when the pulling device pulls the pulling string, the cover sheet connected to the pulling string rises from the lower edge portion of the window peripheral edge and deploys to cover almost a lower half of the window. In addition, in this occupant protection apparatus, even in the event that the head or the like of the occupant rests on the lower edge portion of the window peripheral edge when the cover sheet deploys, the relevant portion of the occupant is caused to erect to return to an inward position inside a passenger compartment, so that the cover sheet is allowed to cover the window.
In the conventional occupant protection apparatus, however, since the cover sheet is connected to the pulling string along a whole area of an upper side thereof, in the event that the cover sheet is made to cover substantially the whole area of the window from the lower edge portion to an upper edge portion thereof, the fixed point of the pulling string which is far apart from the pulling device is disposed at an upper end of the front edge of the window peripheral edge, and the free roller is disposed at an upper end of the rear edge of the window peripheral edge. The pulling string is made to extend downward from the upper end on the front side of the window peripheral edge to be accommodated on the lower edge portion of the window peripheral edge, furthermore, is made to rise along the rear side of the window peripheral edge to be wound round the free roller disposed at the upper end on the rear side of the window peripheral edge so as to reverse its pulling direction, and is connected to the pulling device. Then, when it completes its deployment, a front end side of the upper side of the cover sheet comes to be connected to a portion of the pulling string which lies in the vicinity of the fixed point thereof. Due to this, a case is called for where the cover sheet is accommodated on the front side of the window peripheral edge when it is installed on the vehicle.
However, the front and rear edges of the window peripheral edge constitute areas where a space for accommodation or installation of the cover sheet is difficult to be secured, and in particular, in a door such as a front side door or rear side door, the securing of the space gets more difficult, and hence, it has been desired that the cover sheet is accommodated on the lower edge portion of the window peripheral edge where the accommodation space is easy to be secured.